(An index of every obituary in the surname files of the Society for use in locating information about individuals of the Punxsutawney area.)

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Prepared by the Volunteers

Of the

Mathew R. and Anna M. Ayers Tibby Library

And the

Carpenter and Elizabeth Colburn Winslow Genealogy Department

Of the

Punxsutawney Area Historical and Genealogical Society, Inc.

 

(All rights reserved) 2020

 

Genealogy has been one of the missions of PAHGS since the founding of the Society in 1977.  Throughout the year volunteers of the Society have collected, cataloged and preserved genealogical information for use by individuals seeking to complete their personal family genealogy.  Leaders in this effort have included:

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Twila Steele, a local genealogist, who led the effort to establish and maintain a genealogical service.

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Vivian Waite, was instrumental in organizing a system for clipping and preserving genealogical information.

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Jeanne Curtis, a librarian, who used her training to develop the first finding aids for surname information and created the first index to the surname files.

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These individuals provided the leadership to preserve the information. This information was cut from newspapers by volunteers then pasted onto acid-free paper and filed alphabetically by surname.  Through the years the number of file cabinets to store these files multiplied. 

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As space became a premium and new technology was developed. The Society has moved to the digital age in genealogy information storage.  Countless volunteers have worked diligently to enter the information from these paper files into A Surname Data Base, create an index of the obituaries.  In addition, volunteers have scanned the original records into an electronic format which enables the Society to provide information on ancestors in a digital format to members and the public.

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Members and the public go on-line to Society’s Webpage at punxsyhistory.org, to view the index at no charge.   They may order obituaries to add to their collection by visiting the PAHGS Store, requesting a copy and paying for it on-line.  To do this the individual will need to copy the information on the line which includes: Last name, first name, the YOB (year of birth), YOD (year of death), the name of the folder in which it may be found at the page on which it appears.

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There is an established fee of $5.00 for members and $10.00 for non-members, for each page requested.

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These obituaries are of value to the individual in researching their personal family history.  Individuals interested in becoming a member of a heritage society will require additional information that the Society, the Punxsutawney Memorial Library, or the newspapers on the internet may be able to supplement in order to complete the heritage society’s forms.

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This service provides enables researchers to search the PAHGS obituaries in the Surname Files from the comfort of their own home.

The Society will continue to digitalize additional genealogy information as time and resources permit.